qathet region’s mountain biking destination Mt. Mahony is scheduled for more upgrades after $265,000 was allocated by Powell River Community Forest for phase two of the project.
Brad Winchell, president of qathet Regional Cycling Association (qRCA), said that following a $360,000 grant from the community forest last year, great progress has been made to the Mt. Mahony trails and infrastructure, which has resulted in expanded usage by not only local mountain bikers, but from out-of-towners, too. Winchell said this year, for example, he saw YouTube and Instagram influencer Dave Norona in town.
“Last year’s grant kind of kicked off the whole process,” said Winchell. “We hired a contractor and he built quite a few trails last winter, and then we got to enjoy them this past summer. Now, we have some more money to keep that process rolling and build some more trails. We’re very excited.”
The first improvement people visiting Mt. Mahony will see is the beautiful parking lot, said Winchell. He said the community forest helped build the amenity, and qRCA bought outhouses and other features for the parking lot. There was also construction of blue and green trails that can be used by riders who are beginners, or do not have extensive experience mountain biking.
Moving forward, part of phase two will be construction of a climbing trail, which will help more experienced cyclists reach the top of Mt. Mahony more easily and safely to experience some of the more advanced trails.
“Bikers have had to ride up the logging road to get into the higher elevations,” said Winchell. “The key anchor for any kind of trail network is a nice climbing trail. These are usually built with a small excavator to make them wide and smooth and the right grade, so your heart doesn’t explode every time you try to climb to the top.”
Winchell said typically, it takes a rider about 45 minutes using the logging road to get to the top of Mt. Mahoney.
“Taking riders off the logging road will improve safety, improve the grade, and go through the forest, which will make for a more pleasant experience,” said Winchell.
In addition to the climb trail, Winchell said the coming construction project will also include building some more blue downhill trails.
“We are expanding the trail network with more trails for more people,” said Winchell.
Mt. Mahony, ultimately, is a multi-phase project. Winchell said qRCA has a subcommittee that has been helping with the funding and permissions required to carry out the work.
“We want Mt. Mahony to continue to grow, and as it gets more popular, it gets more users,” said Winchell. “The goal will be to keep a good, solid, variety of trails.
“Some of the trails will be built by volunteers, which has been done in past. Hand-building trails takes a lot of time and effort, but we have very passionate builders out there who are doing that, and have been doing so for many years. Now, it is more formalized in that we are following processes from government regulations, making sure trails are verified and properly built.”
Winchell said there are likely to be phase three and phase four construction projects, which will be completed when funding can be arranged. He added that since the phase one construction has taken place, there has been an incredible increase in ridership on Mt. Mahony.
“Word has gone out,” said Winchell. “There are posts on social media and the riding community is pretty well connected. Then, there’s people like Dave Narona, who has thousands of followers on social media, who come to ride in Powell River.
“The amount of tourism coming into town specifically to ride Mt. Mahony has seen a huge uptake in the last couple of years, but very noticeably, last year. Now that we have some facilities, we’re on the map.”
The objective now is to be like a ski hill, accommodating the full spectrum of skill sets, according to Winchell.
“You want to have your black diamonds, blue squares and green circles, so when people come, they can come as a family and can all have a good time and ride in the same area,” he said. “People are willing to come from Vancouver and Vancouver Island to ride the trails.”
He said in order to further improve Mt. Mahony, qRCA is seeking tourism grant funding to continue financing its projects.
“Mt. Mahony is definitely a tourism attraction and a draw to Powell River,” said Winchell.
qRCA currently has about 550 members and continues to grow. Riders interested in finding out more about qRCA or Mt. Mahony can go to the association’s website at qrca.ca to access more information.
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